


The United Moe War

by ashipnerd



Category: Girls und Panzer, High School Fleet | Haifuri (Anime), Kancolle - Fandom, Strike Witches, Upotte!!, 艦隊これくしょん | Kantai Collection
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Because why the F not, Gen, Ghouls, Your favorite Moe Girls fighting together, against ghouls, and other baddies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-03-28 06:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13898697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashipnerd/pseuds/ashipnerd
Summary: Girls from various worlds become sucked into a war that none of them asked for. Some were just girls that played a certain sport, others were soldiers not afraid to pull a trigger. They all have 1 thing in common however. Not only are they all girls, they all have experience in one form of warfare or another. Some sail ships, some fight in trenches, others drive tanks. They are the Strays. This is their story.Multi-anime cross-over story.





	1. Chapter 1

asdf

Good, this typewriter works! Huh. I never thought with all our technology I would ever say that. Anyway, I guess I should start with introductions. My name is Miho Nishizumi. I'm the commander of the Ooarai Tankery Club, or at least I was. Now I'm not sure what they should call me after we encountered the anomaly. Back on track; I guess I should start at the beginning and explain what happened.

After Ooarai High School's success in winning the tournament, the school board announced that they were still going to close our school regardless. Understandably we were not too thrilled to hear that. It took some negotiating on the behalf of our school president, but she managed to convince the higher ups that if we could win a match against a more professional team they wouldn't close the school. We had to fight again, against University students, in order to keep our school from closing. We were outnumbered, outgunned, out classed; if there was a disadvantage, we had it. 

I never expected the leaders of some of the other high schools to come to our aid. American, Italian, German, Russian, and British tanks all came to our assistance. We had met together to create a strategy to use against the University team, and declared the operation: Operation Bumpy. However, as we headed off to begin the match, something strange happened.

We encountered what is currently described as an 'anomaly'.

No one here is sure how these 'anomalies' started, nor who or what controls them, but... the best way I can describe these anomalies is like a storm. Or at least that's what we thought it was when we encountered it. Take the most powerful, and brutal storm that your imagination can create, and picture storm clouds racing across the ground like an avalanche; do that and you're around halfway there. 

The match had just started when the anomaly hit. It rolled across the hills and through the trees like some sort of living socceristic fog until it engulfed our team. When it cleared, we found ourselves in what we believe is a different world. I know it sounds crazy, just stay with me here. The landscape, trees, hills; they were all different. And we were all alone. I'm not sure what happened to the other teams, as only Ooarai High's team seems to have arrived here. The other teams just, disappeared when the anomaly cleared. I hope they're all right.

Anyway, we quickly realized we had no idea where we were and because no one had cell phone reception we couldn't contact anyone to ask what was going on. Our radios still worked, thank goodness. We followed a river, driving downstream; sending out radio transmissions, trying to contact anyone we could. It wasn't until we got near the beach of an ocean that we got a response, from a supply ship of all things. 

They were from a high school called "Yokosuka Girls' Marine High School". They seem to be from another version of Japan, in which half of the country's land is buried beneath the sea. This version of Japan developed as a maritime nation, and all of its pacific war assets were converted for civilian use. 

The highschool these ships were from was dedicated to teaching the students to become what they call the Blue Mermaids. The closest thing that comes to mind that acts as an equivalent from my world would be the United States Coast Guard. As a maritime version of Japan, it would make sense to have something like it. 

Anyway, they took us aboard their supply ship to bring us to 'Acting Home Port', AHP for short. Their base, and temporarily their home. By what I can tell, it sounds like they built the place with the help of the natives here. Even stranger than that was the fact the native's technology resembles pre-World War One era tec. Not too far behind it though, perhaps the Russo-Japanese War era? I'm not sure what to think about that. I just hope we can find a way home soon. Something feels off about 

~~~ ****

****

"Commander Miho?"

Miho stopped typing as she looked up at the voice coming from the open door. There stood Hana Isuzu, her kind quiet smile lighting up her face; beside her stood the boy crazy Saori Takebe. They were the two friends she had made on her first day at Ooarai Girls High School. Miho returned the smile. 

She was sitting at a wooden desk with an old typewriter in front of her. Next to the table was a plain bed and a simple sink in the small room. This was one of the spare bunks on the supply ship Mamiya. The members of Ooarai High's Tankery team had spent the night in bunks similar to it.

"Hey," Miho replied cheerfully. "What's going on?" 

"We're getting close to the base. The Captain's asking for everyone to head up on deck," Saori replied.

Miho nodded before standing up, leaving the half written page in the typewriter. She could grab her things later anyway. Together the three of them walked through the steel corridors and up a set of stairs before arriving on the deck. The interior of the ship was surprisingly similar to the inside of the school ships Miho and the others had attended. 

The early morning sunshine was bright on Miho's eyes as she stepped onto the deck. She squinted for a moment and let her eyes adjust before looking to the horizon. They were getting close to the dock and was only about 3 or 4 kilometers away. It wouldn't take long before they arrived. 

"Enjoying the view?" 

Miho spun around as the person behind her spoke. Like all the other Blue Mermaids this girl wore a white sailor uniform with a blue trim. She wore frameless glasses with teal eyes and Mahogany colored hair. A light grin adorned her face.

"I'm Yui Fujita. Captain of Mamiya," she said as she bowed in greeting. 

"Uh~ Miho Nishizumi. Commander of the... Tankery Club, I guess," she replied somewhat awkwardly giving a bow of her own.

Yui chuckled. 

Walking over to the railing, Yui pointed out to the harbor. Miho looked in the same direction and noticed the ships tied to docks. She noticed there were a total of 4 warships mourned there.

"The small one is the destroyer Harekaze, quite a story behind that one. The one with the black and white stripes is a German transfer ship that was going to participate in joint naval exercises with us. It's a cruiser with the name Admiral Graf Spee. The bigger one over there is the fast battleship Hiei; and that monster," she described pointing to the largest ship, "is the Musashi. The repair ship Akashi is currently out at sea, and should arrive here later today."

"We're going to be staying here at the harbor?" Miho asked turning toward her.

"No, actually." Yui responded. "There isn't any real need for tanks at the harbor. My orders were to have you disembark at the harbor and give you directions to Bunker Hill."

"Bunker Hill? Orders?" Now Miho was really starting to get confused. "From who?"

"You'll meet him once you get to Bunker Hill. It's just up there," she pointed to a large visible mound in the earth, "on that hill. It's our main line of defence right now and they need all the help they can get up there." 

"Help? From what?" Miho asked, her confusion approaching a climax. "And who are 'they'?"

"Attendees from Seishou Academy," came the simple reply. "They've been up on that hill longer than anyone; trying their hardest to hold back those... things."

There was a pause from Yui when she said 'things'. 

"Things? You know what- Is there anything else I should know?" Miho asked bringing a pair of fingers to her brow. 

"Everything should be explained when you get to bunker hill. The commander can honestly explain everything better than I can."

Miho looked back to the shore as they approached the harbor. The docks were simple stretches of concrete that stuck out into the sea, cranes and rails lining them. Then there was the town, western style houses in a semi-circle around the harbor. Farther up the road lead to a line of hills that surrounded the town. 

In a battle, Miho realized, the hills could provide an amazing advantage to hold off an adversary. If there was a war, this place would be a good place to form a defencive line. Or at least it would make a great fall back line should the front line get over-run. 

As the ship slowed to a stop and the crew moved to mourn it to the docks, Miho kept her gaze toward Bunker Hill. Questions were running through her head. What was this place? How did they get here? And why?

She closed her eyes and let her head droop. She didn't know the answer to any of these. Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask this commander Yui kept talking about. He seemed to have some idea as to what was going on. For now though, she turned and proceed to assist the crew and the Tankery crews disembark. 

Something told her this was going to be a long week.


	2. Chapter 2

Area H-9L: Home Port

The wind blew at a soft breeze, soothing to the girls working on the docks. Miho sat down on a random crate and sighed. 

There was a yelp of surprised panic and heavy footsteps. Miho's eyes shot open to the place she heard the noise from and saw a girl. She had brown hair tied in a pigtail on either side of her head and was shakaly carrying a crate in her hands. Miho guessed she had almost dropped it.

"Need some help?" she asked walking over to the girl.

The girl snapped her attention to Miho in surprise; probably not noticing her until she spoke. The girl smiled and shook her head. "No, I got it; but thanks anyway."

The girl walked over to the crates that Miho had been sitting on and placed the one in her hand atop them. The girl sighed in relief from finally being able to put the heavy crate down. She turned to Miho and introduced herself.

"I'm Akeno Misaki, Captain of the Harekaze," she said with a salute. 

Miho made a quiet noise of surprised confusion before she awkwardly returned the salute. "Uh~ Commander Miho Nishizumi, Ooarai High Tankery Club." 

It was a bit easier to say that now. She still wasn't fully used to it, but something told her it wouldn't be the last time she gave that introduction. Akeno must have realized how awkward the introduction was for Miho, as she dropped the salute and gave a more formal bow. 

"N-nice to meet you Miho," she said a bit flustered as she realized Miho probably wasn't used to Military greetings. Miho returned the bow.

"If I may ask, Yui said that the Harekaze had an interesting story. What exactly does that mean?"

Akeno's smile diminished in size at that question. Miho instantly noticed. 

"I-if you don't want to tell me-"

"No, it's fine," Akeno shook her head. "You see, a while ago there was a ship that was conducting experiments on rodents. Something happened to the ship, and a few RATts got loose. No one was exactly sure why, but these RATts have a strange effect on the mind and on electronics. It turns people hostile, and causes extreme malfunctions on electronic equipment. Some of these RATts got on our teacher's ship, and when we arrived late at the rendezvous point it open fired with live ammo."

Miho's eyes widened.

"Long story short, we used a dummy torpedo to disable the ship and we quickly got out of there. However our ship was declared mutined, so we were hunted for a while before we finally got our names cleared." 

"They also helped prevent a major catastrophe."

Miho and Akeno turned their heads to the new voice. The girl approaching had shaded purple eyes and dark gray hair. She also had a different uniform on than the other Blue Mermaids. She seemed to whare what looked more like a Navy's Officer uniform shirt; adorning her waist was a gray skirt with a white trim. Akeno spoke up before Miho could ask.

"Moka!" Akeno exclaimed with a smile on her face, stretching her arms out wide for a hug. 

"Mike!" 'Moka' responded as she accepted the hug. The two friends laughed joyfully together as Miho just stood awkwardly by the crates. After a moment, the two parted and Akeno introduced her friend.

"Miho Nishizumi, meet Moeka China. Captain of the Musashi and a childhood friend of mine," Akeno said motining to the new girl. "Moeka, meet Commander Miho Nishizumi of Ooarai High School's Tankery Club."

"A pleasure to meet you," Moeka complimented as she reached for a hand shake.

"Likewise," Miho replied accepting the hand shake, "If I may ask, what did you mean when you talked about preventing some catastrophe?"

"The virus the RATts spread around had infected a large portion of my crew. They took command of the ship away from me, and were steaming the ship toward a highly populated port. Had we arrived, the virus would have spread, and there would have been no way to contain it."

Miho was silent for a moment. "It was that bad?" she asked hesitantly.

Moeka nodded. "Thankfully Mike here managed to prevent that from happening," she said with a smile. A moment later, she paused and looked down at her watch. "It's almost noon," she said quietly before turning her attention back to Miho. "You should probably start heading up to Bunker Hill. The Commander doesn't like it when people are late for a meeting."

"Alright," Miho simply replied as she turned toward the line of tanks by the ship. "It was nice to meet you!" she called back to them as she ran off.

"You too!" Akeno replied with a wave over her head. As Miho climbed aboard her Panzer IV, Akeno turned back to Moeka.

"Do you think we should have told her?" she asked.

"I don't know," Moeka replied quietly. She had a solemn look on her face, with a splash of concern covering it. "It's not like we can just 'convince' them to join us if we give them all the details."

"Yeah," Akeno sighed. "That doesn't make it easier though. I don't like any of this. We train to defend the sea, the girls from Seishou Academy are literally assault rifles; these girls though, just play a sport for fun." 

"I don't like it either, but there's nothing we can do I'm afraid. If they got all the details now we'd lose all hope of getting home." The girls looked on as the tanks began to drive their way up the hill, the sound of their engines still being audible from where the 2 girls stood. 

...

Area G-8L: Bunker Hill

"I'm sorry, can you explain that one more time?" 

Anzu Kadotani, Student Council President of Ooarai Girls High School, had heard her share of strange things in life. None however, and she probably spoke for the whole school behind her on this, were even close to absurdity she just heard. A girl named Ichiroku was standing there with an M-16 slinged over her shoulder, a slightly irritated look on her face.

"Do I really need to explain this again?" Ichiroku asked slightly annoyed. She spoke with a thick American accent, obviously her place of origin. She had blue eyes, blond hair, pale skin, and had an orange hair piece on her head. Her uniform looked surprisingly similar to Ooarai's; the main differences being the lighter shade of green for the skirt, and the different colored ribbon. 

Ichiroku sighed, turned to the target set up down the range, and brought the rifle in her hands to a firing stance. She clicked the firing selector to smi-auto, and fired a few rounds down range. After that, she took a deep breath and turned back to the group of girls that had arrived on the tanks.

"I told you, I'm a gun. My full name is M16A4. I'm-."

"Yeah yeah yeah; I got all that," Anzu cut in. "What I don't get is-"

"You mean you don't understand how it's possible." It was a different voice this time, a male one. The group turned to the voice and saw a young man approaching them. It strangely looked like he was only 17 or 18. He had short black hair, dark green eyes, an unshaved mustache, and a surprisingly warm smile. His uniform was a dark gray, with his overcoat draped over his shoulders, the sleeves hanging limp. 

"Er- uh, Colonel Mustang sir!" Ichiroku exclaimed as she awkwardly snapped to a salute.

"At ease Ichiroku," he said with a slight chuckle in his voice. He came to a halt in front of the Tankery Club and his smile grew a bit. "You must all be from Ooarai High School. As Ichiroku said, I'm Colonel Mustang, I'm in charge of this facility."

"Are~ you the commander we were told to come see?" Miho asked stepping forward.

"Indeed. I let each group give me a certain call sign so I instantly know who's talking to me. The Blue Mermaids call me 'Commander,' attendees from Seishou Academy call me 'Colonel', and you can call me whatever you want I guess." 

Miho was about to speak, when Anzu cut in.

"Wait wait wait. We only came up here for answers, we didn't sign up for anything."

"Then let me get straight to the point," Mustang said simply. "I don't fully know how any of us got here. I do know however that none of us are from this world, including myself. The key to the only known way to return us all to our own respective worlds is currently under the control of a military dictatorship that calls itself 'The Rhine'. That military dictatorship has been taking control of this entire continent and unless we stop it it'll probably kill us all. Basically, we either fight it or die."

Somehow he said all that without his smile fading even slightly. It became dead quiet, and it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. Mustang blinked for a moment.

"Yeah, it's a bit of a shock for everyone. To be honest I~ I'm not great with people skills. I~ don't really have a better way of explaining it I'm afraid."

His words didn't really help in the slightest. For a while, the room was engulfed in a cold silence. It was only saved when another Seishou Academy student barged into the room. 

"Sig?" Mustang asked turning toward her. She had black hair tied in a bun on her head, light blue eyes, and a very serious expression. "What's going on?"

"Colonel, I'm sorry to interrupt. At 11:35 hours this morning, there was an anomaly about 31 kilometers away from our current position over the ocean at area B-9L; close to one of the neighboring city states."

Mustang smiled. "All right, let's take a convoy of trucks and check it out."

"There's a problem sir."

His smile disappeared. "What now?" he asked with a knowing sigh.

"Rhine forces are making their way toward the city. It's likely they're after whatever came out of the anomaly as well."

The girls heard Mustang hiss a curse under his breath, muttering something about catching a break. He turned back to the Ooarai students. 

"I know this is sudden, but I really need your girls' help. I don't know what came through the anomaly, but if it gets into the Rhine's hands it could change the tide of the war in their favor. We're barely holding out now as it is. If we fall, this war will be lost, we'll never get home, and the people here will be forced to live under the Rhine's oppression."

They were all quiet for a few moments. Many of the girls almost looked shell-shocked, some of them glancing about as if their friends had the answer. Most however held a collective feeling of lost. For a few moments, no one moved.

Miho finally stepped forward.

"What do you need?" she asked. 

"Miho?" Anzu asked surprised. "Are you sure we can trust him?"

"He's given us a few answers, and he seems to just want to get home like the rest of us. I say we help him for now."

Mustang smiled again. "Then let's get going. You Girls have a total of 9 tanks, so we'll take 9 trucks. One tank per truck. Let's hurry up, we need to get there before the Rhine begin their assault on the city."


	3. Chapter 3

Area C-6L: The city of Gefallen

Mustang sighed as he exited through the doors of the city's Court building, his grey outer jacket still limply draped over his shoulders. He had a face of slight disappointment, mixed with a dash of frustration. He grumbled something quietly about his agency being founded by Strays, and the girls that he had asked to stay outside while he dealt with the court all stood up and approached him. Knowing they were eager for information, he got straight to the point.

"Good news and bad news," he stated not breaking pace nor course. "The good news is I managed to convince the City Court to let us talk to the strays that came out of the anomaly. The bad news is that I have no clue if they'll let us leave with them. Despite the fact that the Stray Collection Agency, our Agency, was founded specifically to gather all the Strays together. To make matters worse, the Court refuses to believe that the Rhine is a major threat to their survival."

"Wait-wait-wait," Ichiroku quickly interjected. "What do you mean 'they don't believe the Rhine is a major threat'?"

"I mean what I said," he replied degeneratively. "In the 200 years the city has been here, its stood against 16 sieges, and during each siege, no enemy force has gotten any farther into the city than inside the outer wall. They're thankful that I warned them about the coming forces so they can prepare for the siege; it's the main reason we're allowed to talk to the strays in fact. However, they firmly believe this siege will be no different than the ones before it."

"If it survived that many, do you think the city might still hold up?" Saori Takebe asked with optimistic curiosity. Mustang stopped walking at that, and the girls there stopped with him. He turned to face them, a serious expression on his face.

"What I know about the worlds you girls came from is limited. I can tell you this though, and let's just get the record straight here; there is no military in any of your worlds even remotely close to what the Rhine is capable of. They're using techniques and creatures that to you all will seem like magic and sorcery; many of which you will believe are straight out of a fantasy book."

The girls were quiet at that, none quite sure of how to respond.

"Is the Rhine really that powerful?" Yukari Akiyama asked quietly. Mustang turned to the dark haired and eyed girl, and gave a response.

"Powerful? Yes. Unstoppable? Unbeatable? Indestructible? No. No chance that they could be an absolute in either of these. I've fought them far longer than anyone has. I have a rather complex relation to one of their members." 

Mustang simply sighed again. 

"The strays are in a warehouse down by one of the docks. We should go talk to them and find out what we're dealing with here." He motioned for the girls to load up, and they set off toward the docks. 

As they moved through the city, Miho looked around at the people walking on the sides of the streets. They were citizens of the city, going about their business at various shops and locations. Most of them did look her way with a strange look however. It made sense, by what she had seen so far their technology mimicked the technology from the turn of the 20th century. Tanks therefore shouldn't be invented for another decade, and the ones the schools were driving wouldn't be designed for at least double that time.

Something bothered her though as she looked at all the people.

"Mr. Mustang?" she asked over the radio.

"Oh that's right! We still haven't come up with a code phrase for you girls yet. For now I think you should call me: General."

"General?"

"Yeah. Is, there a problem?" Mustang asked curiously.

Miho stuttered for a moment. "N-No, that's just that wasn't what I was going to ask you is all."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Well..." Miho paused again, glancing about the people around them. "What's going to happen to all the people that live here?"

The radio was quiet for a moment before Mustang gave a response.

"To be honest, I'm not sure Miho." His voice was not sounding very reassuring. "We don't have the resources or power to bring any of them with us. Most won't listen if we tell them to leave anyway. They don't want to risk leaving and running into something that could get them killed. They feel safe here; and they believe without a doubt that the city is invincible. Of course, the city is almost doomed to fall with that mindset."

Everyone was quiet after that, as no one was sure what could really be said. So they continued their way through the city in silence; heading toward the warehouse where the new Strays were being kept.

...

It should have occured to Miho that there would be other languages being spoken in this world. It was a different world after all. Yet, why was she surprised when Mustang began speaking in an unrecognizable tongue to one of the guards? The guard and Mustang exchanged a line of professional sounding dialogue, and Mustang held up a slip of paper with writing on it and what looked like an important seal. 

The guard went silent before he turned to one of the warehouse's large doors and pushed it open. The guard stood aside and motioned for them to enter. Miho and the others complied and walked into the building. It was a simple warehouse; a wooden structure with a steel frame that formed a rectangular building running parallel to the docks. That all made sense to Miho. The part she really didn't understand was what was being kept inside of it.

There was an assortment of females ranging from girls in their young teens to women in their early adulthood. Most appeared to be from Japanese decent, although a few did appear almost European. They wore various outfits from sailor uniforms to shrine maiden robes to some questionaly skimpy clothing. They all had varying different faces of worry and concern.

A portion of them noticed the new arrivals and turned to Miho's group. Miho couldn't help but feel awkward with so many eyes on her. She had never been exactly comfortable being in the spotlight. At least it seemed she could let Mustang do all the talking.

Speaking of which, Mustang had begun talking to one of the guards inside the warehouse. The way they were going back and forth made their conversation look like an argument, or at the very least an important debate. One of the women standing in the warehouse walked up to Mustang, and asked in Japanese: "What are you two talking about?" 

The woman had long flowing black hair, reddish brown eyes, and what strangely looked like metallic antennae atop her head. Her clothing shone a surprising amount of skin, yet she held a commanding personality.

"I'm sorry, I haven't properly introduced myself. I'm Komendant Mustang of the Stray Organization," he said stretching out his hand to the woman.

"Nagato," she replied as she shook his hand. "Secretary Ship of the Kure Naval Base. If I may ask, what is the 'Stray Organization'." 

"We are an organization whose objective is to gather of all the strays together, and if possible turn them into a fighting force."

"Strays?"

"It's what I call those who come out of the anomalies."

"The anomalies? You mean the storm that brought us here?" Nagato asked putting a hand to her chin.

"That correct," Mustang said with a simple nod. 

Nagato took a deep cool breath and sighed. "You didn't answer my question from earlier; what were you two talking about?" she said after a moment. Mustang blinked.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly, rubbing a hand behind his head. "I'm trying to convince the guards here to hand custody of your group over to me."

"Why would that be?" she asked as she folded her arms.

"Because the Rhine's forces will be attacking this city soon and we don't have the power to stop it. The city will fall and I can't let you fall into the hands of the enemy."

"The Rhine?"

"A country set on global domination. I'm trying to gather all the power I can to stop them."

"Why should we trust you? How do we know we won't be fighting for the wrong side?" Nagato asked sceptical.

"Three reasons. One, the Rhine's leader is mad with a power hungry vengeance that extends through all of the multiverse. The Rhine has already conquered another world, and now wishes to spread to literally all the others. Two, should you ever decide join the Rhine, when it deems your purpose fulfilled, you will be disposed of without a care. Three, if we take down the Rhine and win the war, I'll be able to send everyone home."

That got Nagato's attention. Well, more everyone in the room's attention. "How?" Nagato asked.

"There's a mysterious object that I know of. It's the key we need to get everyone home. According to my sources, whoever possess it is able to gain control of the anomalies." 

Nagato nodded quietly, what he was implying didn't take a genius to figure out.

"So if we defeat this 'Rhine', we can all get home." It wasn't a question. Mustang simply nodded in affirmation.

"Wait a minute," another girl behind Nagato said. "What kind of sources do you have to get that kind of information? That doesn't sound like something they'd just let anyone know."

Mustang was quiet for a moment.

"Let's just say I've worked directly with the Rhine's leader before; long before said leader decided to go on a conquest. I know what the Rhine does when they fight a battle. There is no honor, justice, or mercy. They have technology, weapons, tools, and creatures that sound straight out of fantasy stories. This city we're in, it will fall by tonight. I can't let you fall into enemy hands." 

The room was quiet yet again. As Nagato attempted to process it all, suddenly a guard from outside ran into the room and started shouting something in his language. Mustang turned to the guard and replied in the same language. The guard's voice sounded urgent, and no one there needed to understand every word he said to know something was wrong. At the motion of the guard, Mustang and the girls that entered with him ran outside.

The sky in the distance was black with abnormal storm clouds. Different from the anomalies, but powerful all the same. Thunder kackaled, lightning flashed. Miho noticed Mustang's eyes narrow before he said it.

"They're here."


	4. Chapter 4

Area C-6L: The city of Gefallen

Mustang's eyes narrowed for a moment as he observed the black cloud slowly heading his way. He turned around and noticed the tower in the warehouse, it was tall enough to overlook a lot of the city and would provide a great observation post.

"Miho, come with me," he motioned to her as he ran back into the warehouse. She followed after him, and they quickly climbed up into the tower. Most of the city could be seen inside, and Mustang quickly noted the 3 main gates in the city walls.

"They're here quicker than I anticipated," Mustang stated as he reached into his coat and pulled out a pair of binoculars. "Then again, what could I expect from the Rhine?" He commented as he brought them up to his face and stared at the approaching cloud.

Miho looked down her own pair as she observed the cloud in the distance. She noted there was what looked like a light red mist right beneath it. "What's up with these clouds anyway?" she asked quietly.

"The cloud is designed to block any and all sunlight, casting whatever city was unfortunate enough to be underneath in a lasting darkness. No sunlight also means no photosynthesis, so no oxygen can be generated beneath it. That's not much of a problem, until the toxic miasma the cloud generates descends upon the city. It doesn't kill you, but it has been known to cause extreme exhaustion, and at times hallucinations. They use it to capture cities."

Miho glanced at Mustang for a moment, then turned back to the cloud that was approaching. Then she lowered her vision to the ground beneath it and noticed a large ocean like body of movement. It took another moment for her to realize that the ocean of movement was a vast quantity of people slowly growing closer.

"Are those soldiers?" she asked.

"The Rhine stopped using ordinary soldiers shortly before they started this conquest. Like I've said before, most of their forces are out of fantasy worlds. Those things you see? They're ghouls."

Miho's head swung around and she stared at Mustang with wide eyes. "Are you telling me the Rhine are using ZOMBIES?"

"Correction. Ghouls; but I understand your confusion. Zombies are mindless, masterless, unorganized, and dangerous to everyone. Ghouls are controlled by unnatural means. They are able to follow orders, and will not betray their master. And I'll be honest, I have no clue how she pulled them off, but I assume some kind of magic has to be in play." He said all this without looking down once. It was as if he had explained this before, and now was used to the reactions it got.

Miho opened her mouth to speak, but closed it. Now zombies and magic were being thrown into the mix? She turned back to the approaching enemy force, realising he probably HAD explained it all before. As she looked on, her eyes came in contact with something large. She followed it, and realized it was scaly, and had... wings? 

She lowered her binoculars again, before bringing them back up. The creature was airborne, and it took her 2 seconds to realize what it was.

"Is that-?"

"A dragon? Yeah," Mustang groaned in dread. "Of course she'd send in the dragons. She wants to end the conflict as quickly as she can considering she knows there are strays here."

Miho continued to look at him as he explained that culture shock, before she turned back to observing the enemy with a dubfound expression. By what she could see, there were 4 dragons. They began to fly around the city, one flying over the eastern side of the city; the cracks of bolt action rifles sounded off at the soldiers tried in vain to shoot the dragon out of the sky. The dragon opened its mouth, inhaled, then exhaled; the exhale spreading white hot flames on the city below.

In an instant a huge portion of the east side of the city ignited, the wooden roofs of the houses burning and giving off a glow that lit up the night sky. Screams followed as people ran through the streets trying to escape the heat and smoke. 

Mustang clenched his teeth, and Miho leaned over the edge putting a hand on her mouth, feeling like she was about to throw up. She gagged multiple times, dry heaving; secretly thankful they hadn't had the time to eat lunch or diner that day. 

Mustang himself gripped the edge hard, trying his hardest to deal with the God-awful noise. He took a deep breath, and turned around to return to ground level, when he saw something to the south of the city. He pulled his binoculars back up again, and quickly realized what it was.

"Another anomaly?" he asked astounded. Miho groaned from the railing before turning toward him, walking over grogley to where he stood and bringing up her own binoculars. She recognized the cloud immediately, and her eyes widened. What really got her attention though wasn't what it was, but WHERE was where it was.

"Why is it up in the air?" she asked. Mustang was equally puzzled. The anomaly was a few thousand meters up in the atmosphere, nowhere near the ground.

"Either the strays coming through are on a mountain, or they're~... flying?..."

Bulges began to appear in the cloud, poking downwards before they suddenly gave way and revealed the strays that came through. They were just shy of a dozen, and were all flying in haphazard directions. Like they had been fighting something in the sky before they were ripped from their world. That wasn't the weird part though. 

"Propelerized jet packs attached to their legs, carrying impossibly large and heavy machine guns, varying animal ears and tails, wearing no pants to speak of." Mustang lowered his binoculars. 

"Are we hallucinating?" Miho asked quietly.

"Weirdly enough, no. The miasma hasn't reached us yet. Whoever, or more, WHATever, those girls are; they're real."

Miho lowered her binoculars again and looked at Mustang in quiet disbelief. 

"The only question is," Mustang went on, "who's side are they on?"


End file.
